Rocky Mountain Gamer: 'Animal Crossing' dares you to go the distance

Who it's for: Those willing to immerse themselves in a game that could go on for years

Console: Nintendo 3DS

Grade: A

It's Sunday night and I'm fishing. I chartered a small boat to a remote island where I heard sharks had been spotted in the water. I know if I'm going to pay off my home loan and add a second floor, I need sharks. They are worth 10,000 to 15,000 bells each in game currency!

Welcome to "Animal Crossing: New Leaf," the latest iteration of Nintendo's popular fantasy series.

For those unfamiliar, "Animal Crossing" is at once easy and impossible to describe. Your character, a boy or girl, moves into a town inhabited by talking animals. Once there, you build and decorate a house, run errands, make friends, collect things and, well, just live.

The games run in real time, using the system's clock and calendar for time of day and year. You can even celebrate familiar holidays with your new animal buddies.

While this brief description covers the basics, the game's depth and addictive qualities must be experienced firsthand. You don't pick up "Animal Crossing," beat it in the first week and trade it in for a new game. To experience everything the game offers will literally take years; there's even an award for playing the game for 500 days.

I haven't allowed myself to get embroiled in an "Animal Crossing" game since the original Gamecube release. Since I haven't really played for nearly a decade, I decided to give "New Leaf" a shot.

While the basics of the game haven't changed, I was pleasantly surprised to find a much bigger game, with a lot more to do.

Once you create your character and choose a layout for your town, you pull into town on the train.

Surprise! Not only is there a greeting party, it turns out they think you're the new mayor they've been awaiting.

You get to choose where to build your house (pick somewhere open, since eventually it will be quite large) and how to get started.

As mayor, it's up to you to make the town successful, so it can expand. You do this by making friends with the citizens, stimulating the economy and building public works.

To make friends, run errands for the animals, invite them over to your place or, most important, just talk to them every day. They love it when you pay attention to them.

Stimulating the economy is even easier. Catch fish and bugs, dig up fossils and shake money out of the trees. You can sell everything you find for bells, and bells pay for new furniture, home expansions and public works.

As you progress and expand your own abode, new shops will open and old shops will grow. Soon, your little town will transform into a slightly bigger little town, albeit one with more to do.

In addition to selling items, you can donate specimens to the local museum. Huge compared to the museum from the first game, it will take many months to complete its displays.

A nearby island features more and different bugs and fish, as well as the chance to take tours and compete in mini-games. You can travel to the island with friends, either online or with a local ad hoc connection. They also can visit your town, and you can visit theirs.

Other players can live in your town also, but only the first player gets to be mayor, and players in the same town cannot adventure together, which is one thing I wish would change.

The nice part about "Animal Crossing" is that playing a half-hour a day will keep the game rolling, though you will likely spend much more time with all the game offers. There are dozens of aspects and surprises I haven't discussed here, and all of them are fun.

Finally, "Animal Crossing: New Leaf" is appropriate for all ages, which is rare with a game this deep.

If you're looking for a fantastic, long-lasting, value-packed game, this one is for you.

MacIntyre says the completed project will be best in Pac-12There were bulldozers, hard hats, mud, concrete trucks, blueprints, mud, cranes, lots of noise and, uh, mud, during the last recruiting cycle when Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre brought recruits to campus. Full Story

MacIntyre says the completed project will be best in Pac-12There were bulldozers, hard hats, mud, concrete trucks, blueprints, mud, cranes, lots of noise and, uh, mud, during the last recruiting cycle when Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre brought recruits to campus. Full Story

Most people don't play guitar like Grayson Erhard does. That's because most people can't play guitar like he does. The guitarist for Fort Collins' Aspen Hourglass often uses a difficult two-hands-on-the-fretboard technique that Eddie Van Halen first popularized but which players such as Erhard have developed beyond pop-rock vulgarity.
Full Story